Less than A week and everything has gone to hell, Jim thought.

Dinah hadn't shown up at the school. Nope. She had stayed missing for two days, then a small form, wearing bones and other examples of the Teeth's uniform had appeared. They had started absolutely tearing through Coil's people. They were focused on them to the exclusion of everyone else, and Coil was losing.

The problem was, so was everybody else. Armsmaster and the Thinktank weren't certain what her power was, not exactly, but whatever it was, it let her be where the Protectorate wasn't. They'd watched a group of Coil's forces prepare a trap… and the Teeth had appeared somewhere else.

Oh, and to add to the joy, evidently Dinah knew who Vista was. Missy had gone off to look for Dinah herself when she was off duty, to try to convince Dinah to come in to get help, and she'd been ambushed by Dinah, Animos, Vex, and Spree.

It hadn't been a battle. Even Curbstomp didn't really apply. Somehow, Dinah had known where to intercept Vista when there was no chance of her getting any help. They had managed to grab her, tied her up, and Dinah had warned her that she was the Butcher now, and not to bother her again, right before she told Missy that she didn't need to take her mask off to know who she was. Oh. She'd broken Missy's left arm by way of emphasis.

Which was why Missy was currently in Los Angeles, along with her parents, under witness protection. Director Piggot had been utterly furious at her ward and Jim had a nasty thought that when she came back there were going to be more consequences.

I can't blame her for trying. It was stupid, but so was going into the Darklands.

"Our analysis of Butcher 15's precognitive abilities, going from interviews with her parents and hospital records, indicates that it is likely a long term, percentage based ability." Armsmater paused, and then gestured at the screen. "But her capability in combat…" An image came up, showing Dinah (Not Butcher 15, Jim would not call that little girl Butcher 15), seeming to dodge between laser blasts on the way to killing one of Coil's mercs, "indicates that the other Butchers have allowed her to refine that ability into something that is also useful for short-term predictive techniques. Combat precognition, in other words."

"How?" Carlos asked. "None of the previous Butchers had that ability."

"But they associated with some who did, and they have decades of cumulative experience," Director Costa-Brown said. "And the think-tank believes that the Butcher collective has been… grooming Dinah, for want of a better term, which explains why they have dropped their offensives against the other gangs in order to focus on destroying Coil's organization. Once she's used to that…"

"She will no doubt be fully willing to accept the mantle of the Butcher." Armsmaster nodded. "Again, you should not engage her if you see her. Her precognitive abilities, while not currently fully understood, apparently allow her to define the terms of any engagement. So, if one of you see her, it's likely that the advantage already lies with the Teeth."

"We're just going to do nothing, not try to save—"

Assault cut Dennis off, his voice uncharacteristically grim. "Volunteering to become Butcher 16, Clockblocker?"

"No, sir," Dennis said.

"As much as we want to end this situation," Director Costa-Brown said. "We cannot risk losing yet another innocent to the Butcher. Especially given Dinah's precognitive gift, which we do not fully understand, pushing her too hard could see her arranging circumstances to lead to another Protectorate or Ward cape becoming the next Butcher. We have several plans in development to bring her in."

Yeah, like that's worked so well, even before the Butcher could see the future. Jim shook his head as the meeting broke up.

"Jim," Claire said. "Today's Friday… should we cancel…"

"Nah," Jim said. "I think people are going to need a break."

Taylor

I almost didn't show up. The fighting between Coil and the Teeth, or rather the way the Teeth just seemed to appear out of nowhere and smash some of Coil's men or properties, as making everything tense. The rest of the gangs were laying low, including a new group that had taken over some of the Merchants—these ones sounded a little more intelligent then Skidmark. Even the fighting between the E88 and the single Asian cape protecting the former ABB territories had died down.

The Teeth were behaving strangely, and nobody wanted to run into the New Butcher. A kid.

Even for the Bay, that was fucked up.

But when I arrived as Taylor, I brought some lasagna and met several other teens. Chris and Denis, along with Ann. She looked better than she had right after Lung, but she was moving stiffly.

Like she'd been in a fight.

There were supposed to be others, but with Butcher 15 around, I could understand why people were sticking closer to home at night.

Mr. Blinky laid out some food, and then retreated, telling us that this was a time for youth, not age. He smiled at me. "Jim tells me that you are his friend, Taylor. I hope you will enjoy your time here."

Had Jim told him? I didn't know. But I nodded. "Thanks," I said.

"So!" Jim said. "Ready for Them?"

Smiling wasn't as easy as it had been. But I tried and nodded.

"Bugs?" Dennis said. "Wait, is Orb Weaver going to take offense?"

"Why?" I asked. "Do you like her?"

"I mean, yeah, who doesn't like someone who helped take down Lung, but… Bugs." He shuddered.

"Maybe you haven't met enough," I told him.

The redhead shuddered again. "Nope, I'm good. I'll admire her skill from afar."

Chris shook his head. "She's got some nice tech. Um, I mean from the PHO pictures. She's been investing her bounties, that's plain."

"Yeah," Ann said. "But she doesn't need that. I mean, Oni Lee had to die, but… Brr… It wasn't even a fight."

Jim clapped his hands. "Right!" he said. "Enough talking about fun, simple subjects. It's time for darker, more frighting talks. Now, from the depths of the Atomic Age, before Scion, when powers came out of atomic reactors…"

"We have a double feature!" Claire said. "After the attack of the giant ants, man will find out that Mars is… Very Angry in The Angry Red Planet!"

With that, we sat down and started to watch the show. I found myself interested in Them. Granted, no natural insect could grow to such size but maybe I could find a way to breed them larger, or make use of some biotinkers. Even spiders or ants as big as small dogs would be useful…

"Really focusing," Dennis said. "Let me guess, you're a filmmaker?"

"No. But Mom was a literature professor, and she also critiqued films."

"Nice." He grinned.

But then we hit the Angry Red Planet, and I found myself, for the first time in a long time, actually laughing. It was just so horrible. I wasn't the only one.

"It's the attack of the bad effects!" Chris shouted, and then fell off his chair as the giant bat-spider thing attacked the ship.

"Wait, do they even have glass in their helmets?" Jim asked.

"Real Americans can breathe martian air," Claire said.

I laughed again, then stopped. It was… Strange. How long… Suddenly I wondered if they were laughing at me, and the room started to get a little stuffy.

But no.

They fought with you. Jim and Claire did, to save a family from Lung. I remembered the enraged look on Jim's face, the lengths he'd gone to.

They aren't Emma. They aren't Sophia. They aren't Madison.

And this isn't Winslow.

The pressure in my chest eased a little bit, as the ship escaped from Mars, the threats of the Red Planet following it.

Later, Chris and Dennis left, sharing a taxi to drop them off at their respective houses.

I looked up at Jim. "Thank you," I said.

"No problem," he said. "We need to stick together." He glanced over at Ann. "You want me to walk you home?"

"No, I'm good," Ann said. "The Empire's keeping their horns in." She stretched and winced. "But Mom will panic, and I have to watch Kim tomorrow. She's heading to the bank to try and get a loan to relocate."

"I—" There was a hammering on the door. Jim glanced over at it. "Anyone you expected?" he asked.

I knew what he meant. I shook my head, but checked my bugs. There were three people outside. I made a three fingered gesture, and Jim nodded. "Ann, stay back. Claire?"

"Ready."

Jim walked up and opened the door…

The Undersiders? Here?

"Hey Jim!" Tattletale strutted in like she owned the place, followed by Grue and Regent. "How would you like to save a little girl being held hostage in her own head, and once and for all take down the guy who put her there? All without bothering your Director… at least until it's all over."

Jim looked at Claire, and then back at Tattletale. "We've got some civilians here," Jim said. "So let me get Ann and Taylor home… And then…"

"We're listening," Claire said. "Because you're talking about Coil. The guy who helped turn Dinah into the Butcher. Her eyes flared purple. "I really want to ruin his day…"